A Monday . . . and a Monday I could finally justify taking off from my work! My dear Kat was in town from Kenosha, and she and Laura and I went out to a decadent breakfast (okay, so it was noon—we’ll call it brunch) after I had taken Kyle to work, finished some paperwork, some phone calls and delivered his car to the tire guys. After our meal, we headed toward Fort Worth, and I gave the two northern girls my whirlwind driving tour of downtown, finally landing on the northside, in “Cowtown,” just one hour before the daily cattle drive! So, we enjoyed a bit of window shopping, and sightseeing, and took a bunch of photos of the real live cowboys and cowgirls “driving” the real honest-to-goodness Texas Longhorn cattle up Exchange Street, past the beautiful Livestock Exchange Building. I figured there simply aren’t many places in the world to witness such a thing, and no one should really visit here without experiencing that! We had fun, and in a goofy moment, the idea for this photo was born.

We had an incredibly blessed, uneventful trip to the airport, dropped off Kat, and Laura and I met Kyle and Terrill for a couple of drinks at No Frills. Donny and Mary showed up there, and we all had dinner and then came back to the house where I received the benefits of a much-needed massage.

Early in the morning, I’ll be on my way to Waxahachie again, for Kid’s Days at Scarborough. <sigh>

These three musketeers (I’m resisting the urge to capitalize that) are an impressive trio at Scarborough Renaissance Festival this season. They have each added to their lovely ensembles over the years, and I asked them to pose for me this afternoon ’cause they just looked so good! Their outer tunics pulled aside, they are revealing for me, that each one of them is wearing a full outfit from Pendragon Costumes underneath! Thanks guys, for looking sooooo good!

It was a long, very warm weekend. Although sales pretty solid, and actually East Wind Games had a great weekend, I must admit I was pretty glad to hear that Sunday closing cannon! Now, this week is full of “Kid’s Days” adventures. Oh, boy . . .

Our friend, and my very patient customer, Bill, finally had his new outfit to wear at faire this weekend. I am rather delighted with the way it turned out, and he looks very dashing in it! Thanks, Bill, for the opportunity to do this for you.

What a day. First thing this morning, we discovered I’d been a ninny and left both my cell phone and my xm radio plugged into my truck. All week. Result: very dead battery. Thank goodness for my Allstate Motor Club. I finished Bill’s order—photo forthcoming—got almost all of the other stuff done I needed to do, and we finally got to the faire site around 10 p.m. Realizing at that point that I had taken no photos all day, I shot this one, of one of Kyle’s hats hanging on the wall. The light was hitting it just right and I thought it might make a neat photo.

As I stepped outside this morning to blow my good-bye kiss to Kyle as he left for work, I had this little floral treat. This is the little plant I took a photo of when it first began to show spring growth, and now it has bloomed. And once again, I’m somewhat embarrassed to admit I have no idea what it is. It looks like a daffodil, but I’m pretty sure it’s not. The neighbourhood daffodils have come and gone. And I don’t think I’ve ever planted any daffodils—and I don’t think this is a bulb. But, I’m too far removed from my gardening research right now to remember more about it.

Mostly, I loved the way the morning sunshine had this little glimpse of spring in a “spotlight” of happy light. It makes me smile.

A good day for me, today! I stayed up all night–not even feeling the least little bit tired until I heard the birds begin to sing and realized the sky was starting to be light! I got Bill’s order ready for his fitting tonight (which went perfectly!) and I built Kyle’s new parade banner for East Wind Games. Then today, I was able to work on stomacher sets and alterations with no stress, no rush. I enjoyed a couple of great phone calls (Lisa and Mama and Anna and Kat) and got some business calls made as well. It was a day of feeling productive and pretty much worry-free! My first day like that since January!

So, now that it’s eleven o’clock and I’ve had a grand total of one hour and twenty minutes sleep in the last two days, I’m calling it a day.

Here’s another botany quiz: I’d love to know what this little tree/bush/shrub is—this is the first year it has ever produced blossoms. I opened the door to put the pups outside on this morning, and voila! There it was, full of blooms! I went out and investigated, and got my camera to document it, in the hopes that somebody can identify it. The flowers smell lovely–kind of like honeysuckle, only not nearly as strong as I think honeysuckle is.

I planted this thing probably ten or eleven years ago. I’ve always cut it back more than I did this year—in the hopes of making it fuller and bushier, and less of a “switch” producer! Perhaps my lack of pruning is why it was able to blossom? I’d love some help on this subject, if anyone has any knowledge to share.

18 April, 2007
Happy Birthday Sweetheart!
and where am I? Philadelphia. We had our meeting, then lunch with the airport GM, then off we headed to the airport for the return trip to DFW. Little did I know just what a day this was going to turn into. My boss & I were booked on the same return flight; he made it, I didn’t. My short trip to PHL resulted in a 4-hour wait in the small airport bar called “The Old Philadelphia Tavern.” Reasonably priced but too crowded, I whiled away the time swinging between pissed off, depressed & lonely in rapid time. I couldn’t believe that I was spending my wife’s birthday in a tavern in the Philadelphia airport; but such is the glory of work travel, wot?
This officer strode by at a rapid pace several times with his beautiful canine companion at heel. The third time through, I had my camera ready and grabbed the shot. It’s a good thing I did, as I didn’t see him again and I would have remained unhappy about the missed opportunity. When we left the hotel that morning, I inadvertantly locked my camera in the boot of the taxi, so these airport-interior shots were to be my photos of the day. At least this one tells a story.
Cheers.

17 April, 2007
Still catching up, but I am getting there if slowly. The 17th was a Tuesday; but unlike most Tuesdays that wind down with a trip to No Frills Grill for $1 beer and trivia, I instead got on an airplane and went to the East Coast—Philadelphia, in fact. I had to attend a meeting early enough on Wednesday that there were no flights in that I could catch. So, it was an overnight trip. Jill met us at the airport and we went to Champps for dinner and drinks before retiring to the hotel in downtown Philadelphia. I tried to take photos during the cab ride, but the cabbie didn’t stay still long enough for me to get a good capture of anything; and the cobblestone streets didn’t lend themselves to good movement photography either. So, instead I’m posting a photo of the interior of my Hilton room.
The bed was just as lumpy as it looks. And the window looks out directly onto a parking lot; what a view!
That was my Tuesday.
Cheers.

16 April, 2007
Most excellent. Two posts in a row, which means I’m that much closer to catching up. Part of the trick of this past-posting dance I’m having to perform here is remembering the reasons, the wherefores and the emotions surrounding the photo I’ve chosen. Sometimes it’s easy, as in—that’s the only shot of the day. Other times it’s not so easy such as this one:
I’ve dredged through my memories and believe I’ve settled on the proper one. The photo was taken with Marita Beth’s camera rather than my own, so we must have been out without my bag. That normally happens when I’ve either a) not been home very long or b) someone else is driving. So, I believe this is the night that Marita Beth, Ginger, Laura, Larry, Denise & I went to the Black-Eyed Pea for dinner and some friendly abuse by the waitress (actually, she was quite witty & I appreciated her sense of humour). All of the above then makes this a photo of the shade over the lights above the table.
Great friends, decent food and an excellent time.
Cheers.

15 April, 2007
Here I am again, playing catchup still. Yesterday was mostly a wash in trying to get photos up; there was just too much to do with too little time.
This photo is of the front of my shop from the vantage point of a chess piece. The chess table is 3 1/2′ tall and sits on the front lawn of East Wind Games at Scarborough Renaissance Festival. It’s an attraction that brings many people to the lawn and thus into the shop every day. Sitting on the bench that bears my family coat-of-arms is Bill. He’s been an excellent help to me this season. Thanks, Bill.
Cheers.